Everywhere you don’t belong, Gabriel Bump

This debut novel by a young African-American author from the South Shore area of Chicago is a bit confusing to get into, but swiftly propels you along once it grabs you.  Claude McKay Love is being raised by his civil-rights era grandmother and her companion, a gay man named Paul, after both his parents took off for Missouri, leaving Claude behind without a moment’s thought.  She’s doing her best, but the environment is a challenge to a healthy upbringing.  South Shore is real, and where the author grew up.  The riot that occurs as a key moment of the book, when a young boy is shot by police who assume that he is robbing a house (he’s feeding his absent neighbors’ cat), is fictional however.  But it certainly could  have happened, there  -- or here.  Full of dark humor and compassion, and a difficult read for someone from the white suburbs of Chicago.  Recommended.  261 pp.